[spdrun]

This may sound really mean, but more short sales on the market would suit me. Rentals in certain areas of SD work fine (we’re not dealing with things like 30% vacancy rates in Phx — I rented “that” condo ~3 days after renovations were completed, to a very cool med student interne), and not everyone has the intestinal fortitude to deal with a bank as middleman/referee in a short sale.

Frankly, this is looking a lot like what happened after the 2009-10 housing tax credit expired.

[spdrun]

So interest rates are slightly higher than they were … last year. zOMGz! The HORROR! Eeeeeeeek!

The housing market, especially in San Diego, seems to be a nasty, irrational beast.

Compare to my local markets, which have been slow to change and generally flat or drifting around a bottom:
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/new-york/new-york/
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/new-jersey/edison/

[spdrun]

How/why is inventory in San Diego metro up over 50% over the past month? (!)

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/california/san-diego/

Not just deptofnumbers, but looking on realtor.com yields the same thing.

[spdrun]

I loved camping, sailing, swimming, and hiking when I was a kid; still do. Never gave a fuck about the mass-market Disneyworld type crap. But hey, I got motion-sick easily so maybe the rides just held no attraction. Not sure how much a 1 yo can appreciate, but I’m sure the older kids can.

[spdrun]

As far as breakeven, if you’re concerned about up-front cost, aren’t there companies that will give you a system for no up-front cost and then charge less than the going rate for fossil power for your electricity?

[spdrun]

I have cups that are easily 10-20 years old.

Face it — the sooner we euthanize the fossil fuel industry (coal, oil, natural gas) the better it will be for the country. However, I’m not discounting nuke power. In fact, I’d support the construction of 10 new nuke plants per annum, even if it’s directly in my back yard.

[spdrun]

ROI is also more than short-term monetary savings. Gaia’s health counts for something.

[spdrun]

Clapper vs Amnesty International was also decided before specific details and scope of programs were released. Secondly, it won’t be “all done by software.” The data are there. The software is controlled by people. What the HELL makes you think that specific phone records of journalists or elected officials can’t be examined in order to garner blackmail material, and thus control them? What about monitoring non-violent political action groups like Occupy and destroying them from within?

At the very least, we need some sort of sunset on data retention. If it’s not an active part of a criminal investigation, it should be deleted after a few years. The Europeans have enacted this sort of legislation: why can’t we?

And yes, I’d rather have 20,000 drunk drivers on the road than have the kind of onerous surveillance that you propose. I believe in Ben Franklin’s quote about liberty and safety.

Lastly, why are 16,000 gun deaths per year acceptable, and we hold the 2nd Amendment sacrosanct, yet the possibility of a few deaths from terrorism causes us to trample the 4th?

[spdrun]

FlyerInHI — I’m not hoping for immediate legislative change. However, now that Snowden made the program public, and its existence has been admitted by the government, every single phone company customer has standing to seek an injunction in Federal court.

If this gets solved, this will get solved through the judiciary. Remember that Federal judges are lifers, and many of them were appointed during less paranoid and more rational times. I suspect that at least some of the strict constructionists appointed during the Reagan and Bush I years will take a very dim view of a wholesale violation of 4th Amendment rights.

Since this will go through civilian and not FISA courts, the chances of getting a judge that’s an NSA lapdog diminish considerably.

[spdrun]

Spoken like a true technician. The whole purpose of a Constitutional republic *IS* to stop abuses of power and privacy. Just because a government technically CAN and WANTS TO, doesn’t mean it should be permitted to. Cops may “want” the power to summarily shoot people who they strongly suspect of being gang leaders, and could technically do so. Fortunately, we have a rule of law, and this isn’t permitted.

The purpose of public and civilian courts is to judge the Constitutionality of laws and government actions. Thankfully, Snowden has thrown this out into the open, so it may be judged, both by the public and in the courts.

Hope that there will be many more like him, and that we’ll see a rerun of 1968 and 1973, with a collapse of faith in government, people clamoring for strict control of the three-letter agencies, spitting in the faces of people who are cogs in the machine, etc.

A company tracking its vehicles or its employees’ cell phones DURING WORKING HOURS is a whole different ball game.

[spdrun]

Again: I have no problems with companies collecting data, within the limits of contracts and applicable laws. I do have a problem with government buying/collecting such data on a wholesale basis, rather than on specific individuals. Basically, government should be MORE restricted than private industry — just because someone has the data, doesn’t mean that it should automagically be available to government.

Government may only be mining it looking for patterns AS A RULE. However, NSA, CIA, FBI, who the fuck knows who else have the raw data as well. Would it be a stretch that it could be used for blackmail of specific individuals? “Senator Smith, I see you’re not so keen on voting for the new defense appropriation bill. You’re a married man — why did you call your ex-intern at 3 am, repeatedly for six months…? Sure you don’t want to change your vote?”

Since Congressional votes are often very close, it would take a subversion of only a few % of legislators, journalists, etc, for the three-letter agencies to grab close to absolute power covertly — basically a bloodless coup d’etat.

I took some street photos on my iPhone. The data is there. It contains photos of public places. Would you be OK with making all photos taken on smart phones with GPS coordinates of public places available to the FBI or NSA?

Solving potential crimes isn’t a good excuse. I personally think that even a few thousand deaths from terrorism is a fair price for living in a free society. We accept deaths from gun violence as the price of the 2nd. Why not accept terrorist deaths as the price of the 4th?

Lastly, I hope that cars do get GPS black boxes (though there’s been push back against it from many sides). Should be a hell of a lucrative market selling ways to circumvent the bloody things to “businessmen” and people who are fucking someone other than their lawful spouse.

[spdrun]

(1) The 50s aren’t exactly a shining beacon of civil liberty. You mean the time when you couldn’t get a decent seat on a train if you were Black, got blacklisted as a “Communist” if your name was Jewish and you hung with the wrong crowd, or when the police let go the dogs on peaceful demonstrators? Not to mention J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI tactics.

(2) The government should be held to a higher standard. I can rent an apartment across from Mr. Lars Thorwald of 125 West 9th St, and have the opportunity to peek into his window as a private citizen. Maybe even suspect him of murder. For the FBI to do that should require a warrant to surveil a specific person.

Furthermore, release of personal data should be subject to contractual obligations. If my contract with Verizon states that my phone records are confidential and will not be released to a third party, unless they’re served with a lawful warrant, this should be the case. The warrant should only be for a specific person or set of phone numbers, not for the ENTIRE FUCKIN COUNTRY.

[spdrun]

Never mind that to provide iPads for every teacher and every student at $678/piece as quoted in the article is really a $480 Million dollar commitment.

Never mind that there are much cheaper/more functional tablets in 2013 than Apple’s crippleware.

[spdrun]

One good thing to come out of anti-nuke envirowhackoism, I guess. (I own SPWR stock and it’s doing nicely 🙂 )

[spdrun]

Unless the mortgage is assumable, even with a fixed loan, the buyer will be paying current rates. Market will have to adjust pricing to make sense for buyers, not current owners or sellers.

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